Tuesday 11th Sept. We left our digs in Watton and headed towards Colchester, our stop for the next couple of days. It was not very long drive, only about 45 minutes. Before we booked into the hotel we visited Colchester, a very old city which goes back a very long time in history. Of course time had changed the city a lot but there were still some snippets of old early history left. Like Norwich the Castle and Museum was the best place to visit. Once again all very well done and a good display. After our visit to the Castle we walked around the city a bit and found the remains of the old Roman Wall. Great to see , there is still a lot of the wall remaining plus the gateway. All good stuff. Time for a late lunch by now, looked for a good place to have lunch, but it was not easy as most of them were full. Found a nice spot in a back street, good coffee and ok as far as the food was concerned. What we did not know at the time ,and only discovered once we were outside, was that next door was a fast food shop full with home made, genuine cornish pasties

. Missed out again but will make up for it some other time. Drove to the hotel afterwards and checked in. Nice place and a very nice room as well. Once again we were settled for the night.Wednesday 12th Sept. Memory Lane day for Rick visiting his old home town of Rayleigh. We drove to Rick's cousin's place hoping she would be home, and yes she was and delighted to see Rick after all these years apart. They used to live very close and saw a lot of each other when they were little. Lots of old memories were discussed and lots of " do you remembers" of course. Spend a lovely couple of hours with Elizabeth. We will return for another visit before we go home again. We decided to have lunch at the hotel where Rick and Graham had their lunch when they were at school. Rick did not like the school lunches ,and seeing he was spoiled, he was allowed to have lunch at the hotel. Poor Graham had to come as well, although he did not mind the school lunches. We did the tour of the town, some of it Rick remembered and some of it was new to him. A nice day for both of us.Thursday 13th Sept After breakfast this morning we checked out of the hotel and drove to Chelmsford to Graham and Carol's home and also to return the hire car. So here we are, nearly 6 months later,almost at the end of our trip. Still a lot to look forward to while we are here and it will keep us busy for a while.. Rest day tomorrow, Football on Saturday at the Emirates with lunch at the greasy spoon first. Can't wait.